Callum & Harper (Sleepless 1)

I walked over to the bag. “I’m going to kill you, Cherry.”

“Yeah, yeah,” she said, plopping herself on the sofa and taking a long swig from her coffee. “Ah, the nectar of the gods.”

“You know,” I said, removing my own coffee from the carton and setting in next to Cherry, “Harper doesn’t drink coffee.”

“What?” Cherry asked. “Get out of my house.”

I laughed. By this time, Harper had started going through the bag.

“You got me strawberry jam? Oh! And extra sugar! I think I’m in love with you, Callum!”

Customarily, a statement like this would be passed over as exaggerated but an uncomfortable silence filled the room and Cherry took it as some sort of hint. Harper just stood with her back turned toward me, pretending to fiddle with the lid to her tea.

“I’m gonna’ hop in the shower,” Cherry said, winking at me and making me blush.

As Cherry, left the room, the silence grew so thick I could almost reach out and grip it in my hands.

“Harper,” I said, clearing my throat. “I, uh, wanted to...”

A loud knock came at the door. Damn it!

“I’ll get it,” Harper said, setting down her tea but I realized who it might be and jumped up quickly.

“No, um, let me get it,” I said, practically cutting her off.

When I swung open the door, Sam stood there again and Harper came to stand behind me.

“Oh, hi, Sam,” she said, leaving the door way. I turned to see her attending to that darn lid.

“What’s up, Sam?”

“Oh, nothing,” she lied. “I just needed to talk to Cherry about tonight is all.”

I narrowed my eyes at her and clenched my teeth but opened the door anyway. It wasn’t my home to kick her out of and she was in the band with Cherry. I walked to the coffee table and picked up the bag. I watched Harper through the corner of my eye as Sam came in and closed the door behind her. Sam swung her arms as she sauntered toward the sofa and plopped down on top.

“It’s so freaking hot outside,” she said, removing her short jacket, revealing only a tank top underneath.

I rolled my eyes but Harper didn’t catch it. She was too busy watching Sam. Before long, Harper’s gaze flitted back to me, then back to Sam one more time. I sat in Cherry’s arm chair, hoping Harper would make eye contact so I could tell her to squeeze in next to me but she wasn’t paying attention and sat on the opposite side of the sofa from Sam. Another awkward silence filled the room. Cherry came out from the bathroom dressed but her hair wrapped in a towel.

“What’s up, Sam?”

“Nothing really. I wanted to go over the set list.”

“Oh, yeah. Cool. Let me grab my bag. I think I left it on the washer,” Cherry said before leaving the room for the small kitchen.

Sam turns toward Harper without missing a beat, revealing the true reason she came. “So, Cherry tells me that you and Callum are getting an apartment together?”

Harper turned the palest shade of white and gulped audibly. She looked at me, tears welling in her eyes.

“Yes, we are,” I told Sam but looking intently at Harper. “We had a slight hiccup. It’s not a big deal but we will eventually get an apartment together.”

“Isn’t that a little weird? I mean you guys barely know one another. Are you, like, that kind of girl?” Sam asked Harper with more acid than I felt necessary.

She wasn’t even pretending to be nice and she was implying that Harper was not classy or something. I couldn’t stand for that.

“No, Sam!” I said. “We’ll have two separate rooms. We’ll be proper roommates.” I sat back in my chair, feeling satisfied that I defended Harper’s honor.

Harper